Category Archives: Psychiatry

After 22 years serving in the US Navy Seals, Mikal Vega is blazing a new trail – with a new mission. Vega is intimately familiar with the symptoms of traumatic stress: He has experienced the sleeplessness, the racing thoughts, the guilt, as well as the life threatening effects of psychotropic medications frequently used by the military psychiatrists to treat acute combat stress.

While under the care of military doctors, Vega was on at least 5 pharmaceutical medications at one time: meds for mood, anxiety, sleep and to counter act the side effects of the other medications. (this by the way is unethical treatment but happens all the time. Unethical: why to I say this? Because as far as I know the exponential possible drug interactions has not been researched and approved by the FDA.)

As if the symptoms of the acute combat stress were not enough, Vega describes what the medications were doing to him:

These pills have everyone depleted. I felt like my soul was gone, like I was just a body, with nothing in it.

Once he realized that the pills the psychiatrists were giving him almost had killed him and they were not working, he went to work to find real answers to the sequela of the combat stress.

The sore mistreatment of troops by the military doctors can only leave one scratching their heads wondering, “how could they be so incompetent?” Or maybe they are not incompetent, maybe they are carrying out an agenda – but we will save that for another post…

The good news is that through this extreme trial, where Vega almost lost his life, not in combat but due to the mind and body altering effects of psychiatric drugs, he discovered powerful, non pharmaceutical interventions, that help to re-balance hormones which then allows the client to relax, sleep and ultimately regain their health and positive control of their lives.

Vega is fighting a new fight, a fight to inspire his brothers in arms that there is another way, a far superior way to healing and recovery from combat related stress. You can learn more about Vega’s intervention at Vital Warrior.

Who or what is the most dangerous enemy facing our US Military. Depending on what articles you read anywhere from 18-22 or more US veterans are committing suicide each day. That is many more than are killed in combat each year. Something is terribly wrong.

The CCHR a watchdog organization whose stated goal is to investigate and expose psychiatric human rights violations produced this video that contains statics and numerous testimonies of families of veterans who have lost loved one’s to suicide. They also interviewed numerous veterans who tell their personal stories of the unethical mental health and psychiatric care their received from military doctors.

If you work with veterans or soldiers and their families this video is a must watch. Knowledge is power.

Could nutritional counseling become a best practice/research-based prevention and intervention for behavioral health treatment in the near future? Psychiatrist Drew Ramsey, assistant professor at Columbia University and whose clinical practice focuses on nutritional interventions for his clients, outlines in this article on psychiatryonline.com some of the research that supports food choices as interventions for mental health.

Here are some highlights from the article:

There is an increasing base of evidence demonstrating that diet choice is strongly correlated with mental health risk, particularly the risk of depression, dementia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

It is also a tool to consider in helping psychiatric patients achieve full recovery.

Multiple studies show that dietary pattern is clearly correlated with depression and dementia.

Consumption of high glycemic index foods increased the risk of depression in post menopausal women as does a “Western” dietary pattern composed of simple carbohydrates, fried foods, and highly processed foods.

Stahl and colleagues found that elderly patients who had received six to eight dietary counseling sessions showed a decrease in Beck Depression Inventory ratings (9.9 to 5.9)… sustained for the two years of the study.

A study that followed 255 individuals aged 60 to 64 over four years and measured MRI changes found that left hippocampal volume was significantly smaller in individuals who ate a Western diet.

Dr. Ransey admits in the article,

“nutrition is not a focus of psychiatric assessment or training” but that just adding a few key foods, like “kale, mussels and dark chocolate – covers the basics of psychofarmacology.”(sic).

One cup of kale and other dark leafy greens (33 calories worth) teach the rule of nutrient density delivering:

608 percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin K

206 percent of vitamin A

134 percent of vitamin C

more iron per calorie than beef

a form of calcium that is more absorbable than that in milk

Additionally, in the era of the microbiome, eating plants plays a key role in regulating gut health and determining the microflora.

Dr. Ramsey writes,

In addition to being relatively low risk, prescribing food presents an opportunity for psychiatrists to engage patients in self-care by helping them better nourish their brain.

Dr. Ramsey even goes so far as to say that food choices may even be “a tool to consider in helping psychiatric patients achieve full recovery.” Wow! Now that’s encouraging news from a psychiatrist.